Amazon to release two new Kindles by the end of the year?

Crunchgear has posted an intriguing insider rumor on what we might expect from Amazon in the Kindle 2.0, which their source says we should see by October.

According to their source, two new versions of the Kindle will hit Amazon.com by the end of the year. The first will come out in October, which maintains the dimensional blueprint of the screen but shrinks down the chassis and improves the interface. They say it is like going from a first-gen iPod to an iPod Mini. This rumor seems plausible enough. The second is more dicey: a considerably bigger Kindle, 8.5 by 11.5 inches. What? Both will sell in multiple colors.

A design refresh on the Kindle couldn’t hurt — as wonderful as it (mostly) is to use, the Kindle’s never exactly been sexy, and even some color choices could help that — but where Amazon really needs to improve the Kindle is on the price. If ebooks are ever going to get any real penetration, ebook readers need to be no-brainer buys: under 100 bucks.

It would also be nice for Amazon to finally start rolling Kindles out worldwide. The obstacle’s obviously dealing with the cell carriers to get always-on EVDO access, but the Kindle’s been out for almost a year now: surely, a deal can be hammered out in Canada and most of Europe. I’d surely pick one up if it came out in Germany… thus neutering my own complaints about price with one savage flick of the castrati knife of consumerist hypocrisy!